Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Katie's Surgery - Day Two

I'm not going to lie to you. Day two started out rough. . . All of her really awesome strong pain meds and anesthesia wore off around 2 a.m. She had slept pretty much all day yesterday, so when she woke up at 2 she was up for the day. I had gotten up at 3:15 to get ready for her surgery that day, as we had to be at the hospital at 5:30. I did not love getting up at 2! I put in a movie for her and sort of dozed on the couch until about 4. Hospitals are not places for getting rest.

You can see here how high up her cast comes. Obviously that causes her not to be able to bend her torso at all, so no sitting up, turning, etc.

One bonus with the cast? I can prop her ipad up and she's good to go!

She's still on IV fluids and a pulse ox monitor. She's done great with that this time, and it usually drives her crazy.

We rolled her to her belly this morning, which she did not love. It's all pretty scary to her right now. It's important for us to move her so she doesn't get pressure sores, and also right now to keep the stuff in her lungs moving because she can't sit up to cough it out.

She did eat some breakfast. . . her beloved hot dog and a little bit of eggs.

We petaled her cast with some water proof tape to help keep moisture from going to the bathroom out of the cast. The last thing we want is a wet cast. There was also a spot at the bottom of her cast, right near her bum, that was pretty rough and was down too low. Someone from casting came up and trimmed it. With a saw. She was not excited about that, but he was so quick and so nice to her. He did a great, great job. He told her the noise would sound like a vacuum. He clearly needs a new vacuum if that's what his sounds like!

I brought a bag of new treats for her. She opened one after the cast trimming, and it was this little set of dress up bears. I seriously almost cried when she dressed this first one. She has a washcloth on her head and a thermometer coming out of her mouth. She pointed to her and said, "Kk," and frowned. It made me so sad! She also had her catheter removed this morning, which made her very nervous. She was really upset after the turning and the petaling and the catheter and the saw. We gave her some valium and some pain meds and she took a little nap.

We also had visits from a woman who taught us all about her cast care, caring for Katie in the cast, things we should and shouldn't do, etc. A woman from PT also came by to fit Katie for her harness for the car and to teach us how to use it. Because her cast is reclined, she cannot ride in her carseat. Or any carseat. She will need to be lying down in the backseat of the car, wearing her harness, and strapped into two seatbelts. This is how she will travel every.single.time. we have to go someplace. We are going to have to rethink our school transportation for the boys, because right now Chris brings them and picks them up. I'm not sure how feasible that will be with the cast, because it will literally probably take 30 minutes to get her in and out of the car each time she goes someplace. We've got a big learning curve here.

This afternoon, a volunteer came by with some art supplies. Katie picked some watercolor paints to use. She loved it.

She painted lots of pictures. The girl had to get more paper three times.

She took it very seriously! She also wanted Chris and me to both paint with her, and she was very selective about the colors we would use. She may or may not be a little bossy.

We hung her paintings on her door and the walls of her room. When people come in, she makes sure she shows everyone her artwork.

She was very, very happy when Chris got her collection of movies from the car. A little Spongebob goes a long way with this girl!

The best part of her day was seeing Gigi! She and Gigi ate dinner together, and Katie ate all of her hot dog and all of her macaroni and cheese. She also drank a full cup of apple juice, which was the most she'd had to drink all day. Gigi brought her a bag of treats, and we did some pop beads and watched a movie together.

She also got a visit from Mabel, a therapy dog. Mabel was a Great Dane, and she was so big and sweet. She was really excited that Katie smelled like a hot dog! Mabel was like a pony - she was enormous! Her owner was very sweet and friendly, and Katie really liked seeing her.

If all stays the same, Katie should go home tomorrow. I think they would have let us go today, but I told them I didn't feel like we were ready. We're both going to try to get some good rest tonight and look forward to sleeping in our own beds!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been checking on her, praying for her, sending her sweet messages, and sending me texts to see how she's doing. We are very lucky to have so many people who love Katie and care so much about her.

2 comments:

I was going to respond yesterday but had wondered what was happening in your life. I am so pleased to hear that the surgery went well and wish you all the best for a good recovery. I hope you are able to Katie occupied while she is cast-ridden. I hope you are able to get the tear ducts sorted out soon. Her eyes look so painful! Take good care of yourselves in the next few months. Hope you have lots of support close by.